Harumscarum
by LinzRW
Summary: The Posse: Mayra the Ring-Leader, Aislyn the Squid-Speaker, George the Handsome Twin, Fred the Better Twin, Lee the Dreadlocks Master, and Chester the Giant Squid. The Party: Showdowns with Fluffy, epic troll takedowns, tea parties in the Hospital Wing, dress in drag and do the hula The Purpose: To spread the love (and laughter) in Hogwarts


**A/N: This is a REWRITE of the first Harumscarum book. Basically, two crazy OCs mess up everything at Hogwarts because they can. Yeah. Laugh and enjoy. And review. Because I love reviews. A lot.**

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**Chapter One: Why Ghosts Don't Give Autographs**

_Whoever invited us to Hogwarts was an idiot. Either that or he had an extremely twisted sense of humor. Whatever things fate had planned for those characters was about to be completely and utterly screwed up. And all this chaos began on September 1st when we showed up on Platform 9¾ waving our tickets above our heads…_

"Mayra!" Aislyn sprinted clumsily along the platform, waving her ticker above her head like an idiot and dragging her trunk after her. "Wait up! It's not fair! You have longer legs!"

The taller girl stopped walking. She placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes in Aislyn's direction. "The length of my legs has nothing to do with the fact that it took you too long to run through the stone barrier."

"Who knew we could run through a stone barrier!" cried Aislyn. "Wizards are so awesome!"

"Yeah, yeah," said Mayra. "Hurry up. The trains about to leave."

Aislyn dragged her suitcase along after Mayra. "You can't hide it from me—you're just as excited."

Mayra heaved her own trunk up onto the train and Aislyn's trunk was soon to follow. The two hopped safely on board and began the long and tedious search for a compartment. They passed by compartments full of fellow nervous looking freshmen and loud upper classmen. Eventually, they found the only half-way empty compartment that contained three upperclassmen—one with dreadlocks and two identical boys with red hair and freckles.

Mayra knocked loudly on the compartment and slid the door open. "Can we sit here?"

Dreadlocks glanced up, grinned, nodded, and then returned his interest to the beat up looking shoebox on his lap. The two red heads were gazing at it in fascination and one of them kept poking it delicately as if it might explode.

Mayra put the suitcases up on the luggage racks and sat down next to Dreadlocks. Aislyn sat down next to the red heads, practically bobbed up and down in her seat.

"I'm George," said one of the twins, pointing a thumb at his chest. "George Weasley and this here is my twin Fred."

The other freckled boy grinned wickedly. "You can tell I'm Friend because I'm the better-looking one."

Dreadlocks did not take his eyes from the shoebox. "Lee Jordan."

"Hi. I'm—" Mayra began, but was cut across by her friend.

"Hi! I'm Aislyn Mackenzie, eleven years old, first year, no idea what house. She's my best friend since forever, Mayra Brunnoff, same age, same year, same house – we hope."

Mayra rolled her eyes at her best friend and then turned back to the Weasley twins and Lee. "She forgot to mention hyperactive and idiotic in her list."

"She means me!" added Aislyn for good measure. "Mayra's anything but!"

"Thanks. I think," muttered Mayra.

Fred laughed and pulled a pack of cards out of his pocket. "Anybody up for a game of exploding snap? I own heads at this game."

"Exploding what?" asked Mayra, staring at the cards apprehensively.

Three faces turned to gawp at the girl, their eyes wide with shock.

"You mean…you don't know what exploding snap is?" whispered Lee in a horrified voice. He sounded as if he might have a heart.

"We're muggle born!" cried Aislyn. "My dad's a police officer and my mom's a mechanic and Mayra's parents are accountants. We don't know anything about exploding snap and such. We used to play crazy eights—is exploding snap anything like crazy eights?" She continued grinning like an idiot, unaware that the three boys had no idea what on earth she was talking about. After all, they were _wizards_ and it was common knowledge that wizards were ignorant about anything to do with non magical folk.

In the end, Fred and George taught Mayra and Aislyn how to play exploding snap (Lee kept peeking inside of the shoebox). It was quickly established that Aislyn was the eternal loser of exploding snap. Every round ended with the cards blowing up in Aislyn's face while Fred, George, and Mayra roared with laughter. Lee kept jumping in at unexpected times and giving Aislyn advice. She blamed him for her miserable defeat. By the time they grew tired of the game, Aislyn looked as if she had just walked out of a bomb site, with her chin-length brown hair filled static and the edges of her face tinged brown.

"I _so_ do not like this game," announced Aislyn, wiping away the ashes from her face with a tissue.

"Are you kidding?" asked Mayra. "I loved it."

"You love every game we play!"

"That's because you always lose."

"Wow," gasped Fred. "You mean Aislyn's extraordinary bad luck is _normal_? Can someone survive living like that?"

Mayra nodded solemnly and both George and Fred proceeded to treat Aislyn as though she had the plague. They had seen cursed people with better track records than her.

"AAAAAARGH!"

The four twisted around in their seats to stare at a panicked Lee. He was holding an open shoebox and searching inside of it desperately. He flipped it over and over and put his hand inside before crying, "It's empty!"

Fred and George's eyes widened with shock and the both cried out in horror. Immediately, Fred jumped into George's arms and the latter climbed up onto the seat, trying desperately to get as far away from the floor as possible.

"Lee, you idiot!" they screamed in unison. "How could you let that monstrosity, that demon, that fearsome _beast_ lose! It will kill us all! It will kill us all I tell you!"

Aislyn, of course, had no idea what anybody was talking about. So, being Aislyn, she screamed along with the boys and jumped up onto the seat crying, "Aaaaaargh! I think I saw it! Ugly! Ugly! It's going to eat us all!"

"Where!? Where!?" shouted back George as Lee scurried about the floor, searching under all the seats.

"It was so scary! With hungry eyes!" shrieked Aislyn (she still has no idea what's going on).

And, finally, Mayra was at a complete loss as to what to do. All she knew was that all the screaming was giving her a headache. Finally, when her poor brain could take it no longer, she said, "_Shut up before I show you what a real monster looks like and trust me, I will make your shoe-box monster look like a harmless garden gnome_."

Everyone froze in mid-shout. Aislyn was clinging to Fred in her fright. Fred's mouth was somewhere around ground level and George, who had been halfway between leaping from one seat to the other, paused in midair and came crashing down to the floor with a loud _thud_. Poor Lee happened to be right under him when this happened. But everyone sat/stood/lay/smushed there without saying a word, watching Mayra with surprised eyes.

"_What_, exactly, are we looking for?" asked Mayra impatiently.

"Oh," said Lee is a squished, sideways voice. "Sidney."

"Who?"

"Sidney, my pet spider."

Now _that_ was when chaos ensued. Aislyn, who had been screaming like a banshee minutes before, blinked in mild surprise and said, "Oh, is that all," and promptly sat down on the seat and watched the pile of George and Lee with amused interest.

Meanwhile, Mayra had heard those words and her calm, collective face shattered in an instant. "What!?" she shrieked, throwing open the compartment door and running outside.

Fred, George, and Lee watched her go with shocked expressions. "What the blood hell was that all about?" wondered George in flabbergasted tones.

Aislyn glanced up and said, "She's terrified of the name Sidney."

"I'm sorry!" Aislyn cried, jogging to keep up with Mayra's long legs. "I didn't mean to say Sidney, _honest_. It just came out that way. _Spiders, spiders, spiders_. I know you're afraid of spiders!"

"Then why on Earth did you say Sidney!" snapped Mayra. "Are you stupid? Who could possibly mix up spiders with Sidney? And you said _the name Sidney_. You knew exactly what you were saying!"

They were standing outside the Hogwarts Express now, dressed in full wizard robes. Mayra had been thrilled (though she'd never admit to it) when she put on her black robes for the first time. She felt official. She was not a Hogwarts student. Of course, the effect of her new outfit wore off when Aislyn started spinning in circles and singing about how her robes swirled so prettily.

Mayra and Aislyn were completely lost amongst the bustle of the Hogwarts platform. The other people riding in their compartment had been third years—which meant that they had to be separated from Aislyn and Mayra. Fred, George, and Lee had told the girls to find "the giant man with the lantern" and he'd tell them what to do, but neither Aislyn nor Mayra could see any such giant. The crowds had begun to diminish and finally, the girls caught sight of a few small looking eleven-year-olds standing towards the far end of the platform. Both girls hurried over there, waving at the curly bearded giant that towered over the skinny students.

As they ran, Aislyn tripped over the hem of her robes and went crashing down onto the pavement, only just managing to catch herself before she face-planted.

Sighing heavily, Mayra turned around. "Nice save. How many times is that today? Seven? Eight?"

"You count?" grumbled Aislyn, getting up and rubbing at her torn jeans as a spot of blood welled up. "I swear, my knees are permanently scarred. I'm glad I never wanted to be a model – that career path is out of the question."

"Hurry up! We 'aven't got all day!" hollered the giant.

Aislyn and Mayra hurried to catch up with the rest of the first years. They were all short and scared—with wide, awe-filled eyes fixed on the looming giant. Mayra quickly measured heads with her eyes and realized that she was among the talent of the first year students. There were two beefy boys with leering faces that were a couple centimeters taller and a brown-haired girl with a sweet face. Mayra also noted that Aislyn was one of the shortest students—rivaled only by a pug-nosed girl.

"Are these wizards and witches?" asked Mayra. "They look the exact same as our old classmates."

Aislyn didn't get a chance to answer as the giant introduced himself to the crowd of students. "Hullo. Me name is Hagrid. I'm the gameskeeper at Hogwarts and I'm ta bring you ta the school. Firs' years follow me!"

Eagerly, the little students followed Hagrid as he led them down a narrow dirt path away from the platform. Some of the students muttered to one another in eager voices, while other stumbled along the path nervously. The group emerged from a cluster of trees and found themselves standing on the edge of a large, inky-blue lake. The surface was like glass, stretching out before them until the water reached the banks of the shadowed hills, faded in the distance. The first years stood in awe and watching with glowing eyes as a gentle wind blew, stirring up ripples across the smooth lake/

"I-It's beautiful," stammered one blond girl, dumbfounded.

"Now," said Hagrid, gesturing down at the lakes edge were a dozen or so boats lay in wait. "Ge' in groups of fou' and pick a boat. Don' tip them or do anythin' stupid. There's a gian' squid in this lake and he don' like swimmers."

Aislyn gawped at Hagrid for a second and then squealed excitedly. "A giant squid!? For real? A _giant_ one! You sure he's giant! I went to the zoo once and they said they had a giant squid too, but he was pretty average sized if you ask me. Maybe slightly larger than average at most. But is this one _really_ giant!? Can I see? Can I see?"

At this point Mayra felt obliged to put her hand over Aislyn's mouth to shut her up and a few of the nearby students thanked her for the service. Mayra distinctly heard one red haired, freckled boy say, "I hope she's not in _my _house."

Suddenly, Aislyn stopped trying to talk about giant squids, and went incredible still. Mayra stared at her friend in confusion but Aislyn was paying no attention to Mayra. Her brown eyes were as round as coins as she stared through the group of students. Curious, Mayra followed her friend's gaze and found herself staring at one particularly blond boy. He was sort of tall for a first year, with pure white-blond hair and green eyes. He was talking in an undertone to the two tall, beefy boys. The blond was kind of handsome, in an arrogant I'm-too-good-for-you way.

"Aislyn," said Mayra. "Don't."

"Pretty!" Aislyn let out a squeal of delight and sprinted through the crowd of students. Grinning like an idiot, she threw her arms around the blond boy's neck crying, "Hug!"

Everyone stopped.

They all stared at Aislyn with wide, uncomprehending eyes. Especially the blond boy who just stood there, rooted to the spot, completely stunned by Aislyn's hug-attack. The red-head from before gawped at Aislyn and a repulsed expression appeared on his face. A pug-like girl was glaring at Aislyn openly. Different students had different reactions, but everyone stood there in absolute shock. And then, the blond came to his senses.

He practically threw Aislyn off his back, saying, "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

Aislyn tumbled to the ground, but immediately sprung up again, a smile stretched across her face. "Hug!"

She tried to wrap her arms around his neck again, but the blond skillfully dodged and Aislyn went fell face-first onto the ground. She lay there for a moment pouting, before springing up and crying, "But I want to hug the pretty boy!"

The blond gawked at her and took a step away. "Did your mother drop you on your head when you were little?"

Aislyn shook her head. "That was my daddy!"

He looked even more taken aback. "That was a joke."

Aislyn was about to attack again, but Mayra grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her away from the pretty boy. Aislyn stopped struggling and sighed forlornly.

"I'm sorry," said Mayra quickly. "She's always been this way. You should have seen her with Miles Phillips, Henry Hall, and Samuel Jacobs. It was a nightmare."

"That thing should be locked-up!" cried the blond boy, shooting Aislyn venomous glares.

"What're y'all waitin' fo'!" asked Hagrid (who had somehow missed the Aislyn extravaganza while dealing with the boats.) "Ge' movin'! We haven' go' all day! Ge' in groups of fou' and grab a boat!"

With Mayra distracted, Aislyn shook free of her grip and darted forward to grab the blond boy's arm. "My name's Aislyn!" she cried, dragging him toward the nearest boat. "What's yours?"

His eyes flashed with an uncomfortable fear and he stammered back, "D-D-Draco Malfoy."

"Ooooooh! I love that name! Can I call you Draco – it's such a pretty name!?" Aislyn selected the nearest boat and pulled Draco into the seat next to her. He shot a desperate look at all the other students on the shore and mouthed "save me". Mayra gave him a sympathetic wave and selected the boat with the red head and a black haired boy who looked rather nervous. Draco's beefy friends joined him and Aislyn.

When everyone was seated, Hagrid shouted "Forward," and the boats suddenly lurched into motion, gliding across the lake.

Mayra sat in stunned silence as they moved across the inky surface. She had lived in a grey-stone townhouse in Aberdeen in whole life. Her parents had avoided the forest as much as possible, which meant that Mayra's access to the country-side was limited. Now, on the grounds of Hogwarts, she saw the rolling hills of Scotland for the first time—and she was filled with a gasping awe. In the city, the stars were masked by an orange haze, but now she saw the dotted sky for the first time. And the lake reflected the stars like—

"Don't touch me!"

There was splash and Mayra's dreaming was interrupted. She turned to see a disturbance in the glass surface. Then, there was a gasp as Aislyn, her hair matted to the sides of her face, and Draco, his face stark white in color, resurfaced.

"What a weird girl," said the red-head in Mayra's boat.

"She had a rough childhood," said Mayra in defense of her friend.

"Do you know her?" asked the red-head.

Frowning at his tone, Mayra replied, "She's my childhood friend."

"How did you survive? I hope she's not in the same house as me."

"She doesn't seem all that bad," stammered the black haired boy. Mayra glanced at him and saw that he was sort of cute. Almond shaped green eyes, a round face and a mysterious, lightening-shaped scar on his forehead. The boy saw Mayra looking at him and added nervously, "M-my name's Harry, by the way, Harry Potter."

"Mayra Brunnoff."

"Ron Weasley," added the red-head.

"You're not related to Fred and George Weasley, are you?" asked Mayra.

Scowling, Ron nodded. "Everyone always asks that. I have five older brothers, you see. And a younger sister. How do you know Fred and George?"

"We met on the train. Their friend Lee Jordan had a…" she swallowed and forced the words out. "A spider."

Ron shuddered and the two of them spent a moment of understanding—understanding that spiders were evil incarnate and should never be touched with a thirty foot broomstick let alone carried around in shoeboxes and treated as pets.

The moment was interrupted as Draco started splashing Aislyn. And she had to duck under the water to avoid swallowing the lakewater Draco pushed as her. Aislyn resurfaced behind him, laughing.

"Do you want to play a game?" she asked. "Because I win all splashy wars with my splashtastic splashing skills!"

"Go away!" cried Draco.

Hagrid's boat had finally reached Aislyn and Draco. Hagrid leaned over and pulled them out of the murky water with one hand. Hagrid dropped both her and Draco into his own boat and placed his giant, fur coat over their heads and the two wrapped themselves in it, shivering slightly.

"You're an idiot," stammered Draco through chattering teeth. "It's one thing to fall in yourself, but to drag me along with you."

"But your friends were trying to push me out of the boat!" said Aislyn, still grinning.

"That's because you were teasing them!" the boy shouted, his voice squeaking at the end. He calmed down a little and said, "If I get sick, my father is going to come down her and have your idiotic-self expelled!"

"All because of a little sickness?" asked Aislyn innocently. Then, she cracked up laughing and thumped Draco on the back to get him to join her. Draco glared back, unwilling to budge an inch. Clearly, their relationship was going to be sitting ducks for a while (a very long while).

Finally, the boats reached the other side of the lake and the first years got their first glimpse of the castle. To put it mildly, the castle was massive, grand, and majestic. It was designed like an old Scottish castle from medieval times. The windows were all lit up, glowing golden in the night.

After letting the students enjoy the view, Hagrid led them up to the towering front door and inside the ancient building. When they reached an large front room with arching ceilings and moving paintings covered the walls, Hagrid left them in the care of a strict woman with sharp, cat-like features. She primly introduced herself as Professor McGonagall before beginning her pep-talk on the four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. She explained how important the house were and how important earning points were and how horrible losing points were and how crucial earning the house cup was.

"Is it sparkly?" asked Aislyn. "I only want it if it's sparky."

"I'm sure it's sparkly," muttered Mayra.

McGonagall disappeared in to the Great Hall for a second—to see if "they" were reading yet. The moment the heavy-set doors closed behind her, the students started talking. What house would they be in? How would they be sorted? Could they change houses? Where was the food?

Suddenly, one girl screamed and everyone turned around to see a hoard (a gaggle, a flock—what is a group of ghosts called?) of pale ghosts drifting through the hallways. Most students backed away apprehensively, while one idiot (no prizes for guessing who) leapt forward crying, "Oh my magic! Ghosts! So cool! So cool! So cool! Can I get an autograph? Does anybody have a pen on them? Or paper? Oh my god! I have dreamt about this day ever since I got my letter!"

"You dream about dead guys?" sneered Draco, his intimidating appearance lessened by the fact that he was soaking wet.

"Uh-huh!" cried Aislyn.

"She doesn't understand taunting," said Mayra. She grabbed the back of her friend's robes and pulled the wet girl away while adding a quick apology to the ghosts. Mayra hissed angrily in Aislyn's ear, "Dead guys can't _sign_ paper! They can't hold the pen."

"Oh right!" cried Aislyn. "I'm so sorry ghosties!"

The ghosts gave her reproachful glares before hurriedly floating away. They slipped through the walls and out of sight, but not before everyone heard one of them say loudly, "I hope she's not in _my_ house."

Mayra resisted the urge to sigh and settled for an eye rolled instead.

McGonagall returned and led the nervous/excited/terrified/thrilled first years through the doors and into the Great Hall. The overwhelmed expressions of the students were more than enough to explain the vast and impressive design of the Great Hall. Floating candles, chattering students, silver moonlight, long elegant tables and grandly dressed teachers.

The first years, as they were instructed, formed a line through two of the tables. Professor McGonagall went to the front of the Great Hall—in front of the teachers' table Mayra searched the tables for Fred and George. She found them quickly enough (their red hair stuck out like a sore thumb) and waved awkwardly. Unfortunately, Aislyn caught sight of them and began flapping her arms around like an oversized bird in the hopes of getting their attention.

Fred fell off his seat from laughing so hard.

Everyone listened in silence as the wrinkled old hat sung its song and Mayra applauded awkwardly. She wasn't sure how to appreciate a singing accessory. Then, McGonagall pulled out a long roll of parchment from nowhere. She scanned the hall with her sharp eyes and then called out the first name:

"Abbott, Hannah."

A round faced girl with pretty blue eyes stumbled forward and sat down on the rickety looking stool. Her hands were trembling and when McGonagall put the hat on her head she shut her eyes as if that would block out all the bad things. And then, the hat cried:

"Hufflepuff!"

A relieved look appeared on Hannah's face and she almost sprinted to the Hufflepuff table where she was applauded enthusiastically.

Aislyn nudged Mayra in the ribs and pointed eagerly to one good-looking guy amongst the Hufflepuffs. He had an easy-going, kind natured appearance with gorgeous hazel eyes and blond hair. The type any girl would swoon over.

"I wouldn't mind being in Hufflepuff with _that_," whispered Aislyn excitedly. Mayra privately agreed (though she would never admit to thinking such things.)

"Bones, Susan."

A small girl, a bit on the chubby side, walked forward shyly and carefully lowered herself onto the stool. Her eyes were wide with fright as she stared ahead of her at the crowded hall. Then, he eyes disappeared under the enormous brim of the sorting hat.

"Hufflepuff!"

The girl seemed to sigh with relief as she leapt up from the stool and practically ran across the hall to join Hannah at the Hufflepuff table. The two laughed nervously, hugged, and turned back to watch the rest of the sorting.

It must be my turn soon, thought Mayra. She found her heart had begun to race and her hands trembled slightly. She was _scared_. Which was weird. Because Mayra was almost never scared. But when she faced that old, wrinkled hat—Mayra thought it was the most terrifying thing in existence.

What if it didn't place her? What if she was, in fact, a normal muggle? Magic God, that'd be awkward. Having to get up from that stool and go back home on the train. While Aislyn stayed. Or maybe it was all a joke. From the moment she got her letter, Mayra had been expecting someone to jump out and say "Ha, ha! It was all a joke—and you fell for it!" and then the dream would be over and everything would return to normal. What if she didn't belong in Ravenclaw—what if she wasn't smart enough? What if she wasn't ambitious enough to be a Slytherin? What if she was too cowardly to be in Gryffindor? What if she wasn't Hufflepuff enough to be a Hufflepuff? A sudden chill shot through Mayra's chest. What if the hat had head lice?

"Brown, Lavender."

This girl was much more confident than the once who proceeded her. Still nervous, but when her name was called she beamed proudly and marched up to the stool.

"Gryffindor!"

A large, thunderous applause came from the Gryffindor table as the girl took off the hat and walked over, still grinning madly.

"Brunnoff, Mayra."

Mayra twisted around in shock to hear her name called. Face flushed with both pleasure and fear, she strode briskly to the stool and took her seat. Hundreds of eager faces watched as the rugged sorting hat was placed on her head. However, of all those little faces, the only one Mayra saw was her best friend's, who grinned like an idiot and offered Mayra a thumbs up. And then, the hat went over Mayra's head and she couldn't see a thing.

Much to her surprise, a rough, ancient voice began whispering in her ear. For a second, Mayra thought it was one of the professors, then she realized it was, in fact, the hat. The old withered hat was _talking to her. _

Hmm…a muggle born, eh? Your best friend's keeper? Well, I see. I see many things. Oh, you're going to have a fun life. Very fun. (Did the hat just laugh?) And I know _just_ where to put you.

"Gryffindor!"

All the tension built up inside Mayra was suddenly released and she felt like a cloud floating in the sky. Gryffindor. The house of the stupidly brave. She could work with that. She could be stupidly brave.

Smiling broadly, she removed the hat from her head and walked to the Gryffindor table, watching all their smiling faces and listening to their wild applause. Yep, she could definitely be stupidly brave with these people.

Fred and George gave her a high five and she eagerly took the empty seat beside Lee.

"Congratulations!" hissed George, but Mayra's reply was cut off by the call of the next student "Bulstrode, Millicent" (She was sorted into Slytherin.)

After that, one of Draco's beefy friends (Vincent Crabbe) was placed in Slytherin, a thin looking boy called Justin Finch-something became a Hufflepuff, Seamus Finnegan became a Gryffindor, a bushy haired girl named Hermione Granger joined Lavender and Mayra at the Gryffindor table, and Gregory Goyle (the second of the beefy friends) became a Slytherin. Mayra kept glancing at Aislyn between names, expecting to see the other girl panicking. Aislyn, however, appeared quite calm. She was smiling and chatting happily to a tubby looking boy beside her.

"Longbottom, Neville."

Aislyn's new found friend stumbled forward and plopped his behind onto the stool, staring frantically up at McGonagall. She placed the hat on his head at there was a moment before the hat shouted, "Gryffindor!"

"Mackenzie, Aislyn!"

Still glowing with excitement, Aislyn began her walk to the stool, ready to be sorted. She had the whole image planned out in her head, she would stroll up there, all cool and calm like a model and everyone would think she was so cool. Of course, she'd be sorted into Gryffindor with Mayra and pretty boy Draco would ask her on a date soon after that.

But, knowing Aislyn, it would never happen like that. She took one step towards the stool and—Bam! She tripped over her own pant leg and went crashing down to the floor.

The Great Hall burst into laughter and Aislyn sat up angrily, rubbing her red nose and sighing. Still grumbling about her dreadful luck, Aislyn sat down on the stool, crossed her arms over her chest, and scowled up at McGonagall.

The second the hat was on her head, it started talking.

Oh, so this is the second part of the pair. (The hat was laughing. Wild, crazy laughter.) Bad luck. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad luck. How did you manage to get such bad luck? I have seen some bad luck in my time—but you take the head and hat.

"Tell me about it," muttered Aislyn.

But where does such a walking catastrophe belong?

"Gryffindor!"

The hat was pulled away and Aislyn sat there, brain dead, and stared up at the glowing lights of the hall. The red and gold table burst into noisy applause and, slowly, a grin appeared on Aislyn's face. All her earlier irritation disappeared and she raced to the far table, her eyes glittering with joy. Mayra rolled her eyes, Lee gave her a high-five and Fred and George gave her congratulatory thumps on the back. Still laughing and grinning, Aislyn turned back as a familiar name was called:

"Malfoy, Draco."

"Oh!" cried Aislyn, grabbing Mayra's arm and squeezing it tight. "Pretty boy! I hope he gets sorted into Gryffindor."

But the world had other plans. The moment the hat touched his head, it screamed "Slytherin!" and the blond raced across the room with a confident smirk in Aislyn's direction.

She gave him a lonely glance and said, "By the Magic God, I want to be resorted! If I knew where Pretty Boy was going, I would have asked for Slytherin."

Fred and George and Lee all choked on their own words and turned to stare at her.

"Don't you know Slytherins and Gryffindors hate each other on principal?" asked George. "You and your lover-boy are sworn to be mortal enemies now."

Aislyn's jaw dropped. "Pretty boy…and me…enemies? … NO!"

Everyone in the hall turned to stare at the loud girl, their eyes wide with shock. Ernie MacMillan paused halfway to the Hufflepuff table and stared. Meanwhile, McGonagall had turned to stare at her and snapped, "Do you have some problem with MacMillan being sorted into Hufflepuff?"

Without even blushing, Aislyn turned to McGonagall and said innocently, "No, Ma'am! I was only hoping that such a _fine_ young man had been sorted into Gryffindor. But if the Sorting Hat says so, who am I to argue?"

"Hmph," grumbled McGonagall. As Padma Patil was sorted into Ravenclaw and her twin Parvati was sorted into Gryffindor, McGonagall never once stopped glaring at poor Aislyn.

Fred patted his new found friend on the head and said cheerfully, "Day one and you've already made an enemy—and this one's pretty big."

"Oh that's nothing!" cried Aislyn cheerfully. "I have enemies in the muggle police. They don't like people who sing and dance in public too often."

Mayra face palmed herself and said wearily, "That's not information you share proudly when meeting new people."

"Potter, Harry."

All it took was those two words to silence the Great Hall. All eyes turned to the skinny, black-haired boy with a lightning scar on his forehead. Mayra didn't get it. What was so special about the boy? Harry stumbled forward, his eyes determinedly fixed on the hat in front of him. Whispers filled the hall and Mayra distinctly heard the words, "Harry Potter – you mean _the_ Harry Potter?" and "No way!" Both Mayra and Aislyn exchanged confused glances and Mayra hurriedly asked George what was going on.

"Oh right," he said. "You two are muggle-born, aren't you? Well, Harry Potter is this legendary boy. There used to be this evil guy who terrorized the wizrding and muggle worlds. When Harry was a baby, this evil guy snuck into his house and killed his parents, but the evil guy couldn't kill poor Harry and because of that the evil guy disappeared and he gave Harry a lightning scar. The evil guy was called you-know-who-"

"No, I don't," said Aislyn. "That's why I'm asking you."

George blinked in surprise, and then snickered. "No, that's what we call him because everyone is too scared to say his name."

"Well that's stupid," observed Mayra. "What's there to be feared in a name?"

"Unless it's like a curse word," said Aislyn. "What is his real name?"

George grinned and whispered in an undertone, "Voldemort."

If Aislyn or Mayra were expecting anything grand or spectacular in this guy's name, they were gravely disappointed. They were laughing. Hysterically. They couldn't speak of breath. They could only laugh. And laugh. And laugh.

Finally, Mayra gained enough control of herself to gasp out, "What kind of a name is _that_?"

"H-he sounds like a creeper!"

"Who sneaks into people's bedrooms—"

"And goes—BOO!"

Suddenly, all five of them were all cracking up. They almost missed it when Harry Potter was sorted into Gryffindor. Still high off of their laughter, George and Fred stood up and began taunting the rest of the hall singing, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Harry took his seat a little ways down from them. He looked greatly relieved. Mayra caught his eye and waved awkwardly, she felt a bit bad for the guy, who looked like he had been thrown into the middle of a storm and had no idea what was going on.

After that, Dean Thomas became a Gryffindor and Zacharias Smith was made a Hufflepuff. Finally, the red-head, Ron, who had always hoped not to be in the same house as Aislyn, was called. Much to no one's surprise, he was placed in Gryffindor along with his three older brothers (Fred, George, and some prefect called Percy). When he walked by her, Aislyn waved madly and cried, "Congratulations, Ronnie!" He shot her a poisonous glare and she stuck her tongue out like an eight-year-old child.


End file.
